Celebration: Megrahi returns to Libya with Gaddafi's son
The Lockerbie bomber refused chemotherapy in a Scottish prison in an attempt to make his condition deteriorate and force his release, it was claimed yesterday.
Abdelbaset Al Megrahi was believed to be terminally ill with prostate cancer when he was sent home to Libya on compassionate grounds exactly a year ago.
But since his release Megrahi has responded well to a similar treatment – which is available on the NHS – and there claims that he could live another seven years.
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Dr Andrew Fraser, the Scottish doctor responsible for assessing Megrahi's health a year ago, had assured the Government that the bomber was resistant to treatment – assumed to mean that body was not responding.
But in fact Megrahi chose to refuse the treatment, ITV have claimed. It is understood that Megrahi discussed the treatment with Scottish doctors but said he would only undergo it with support of his family, who were in Libya.
Notes of a meeting on July last year, which have been released by the Scottish Government, report that doctors told Megrahi that he needed to 'take his medication regularly' – suggesting that he had skipping doses that would have improved his health.
Just days later, his condition began to undergo such a dramatic deterioration that it appears to have been deciding factor in the release.
Last night's disclosure raises questions over whether Megrahi made a calculated risk to refuse his medication so he would appear more frail just weeks before the decision to release him was made.
Megrahi, 58, the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people, was released from a life sentence after doctors said he had only three months to live.
Asked whether he had discussed Megrahi's refusal to be treated with Dr Fraser, Scottish first minister Alex Salmond said last night: 'It is not my job to raise issues with Dr Fraser. It was Dr Fraser's job to make the prognosis. It was then [Scottish justice secretary] Kenny MacAskill's job to act on any other information that he was receiving.'
Dr Fraser last night declined to comment. The revelations came as Libya appeared to have caved in to Western demands not to celebrate the first anniversary of Megrahi's release.
Diplomats had warned Tripoli that a repeat of the festivities that marked his return would be deeply offensive to the families of the victims of the attack.
A Libyan official said only 'quiet celebrations' would take place and that the country's leader Colonel Gaddafi did 'not wish to cause offence in other parts of the world, especially Britain and America'.
But the official added: 'The noisy fight between British and American governments is enough to remind Libyans and the rest of the world about our leadership's skills in scoring a big victory.'
